Story+1996-11-24+Asbury+Park,+NJ

´´Greetings from Asbury Park.....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Blinded By the Light´**

´´I almost made it, I was blinded.... (?)....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Does This Bus Stop at 82nd Street ?´ (following ´Blinded By The Light´)**

´´I´m still in tune (tunes his guitar) and I´m still in tune (tunes his guitar) wait, there´s twelve of them (chuckles)....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Growin´ Up´**

´´Thanks, good evening....what the hell was I thinking about when I wrote all that stuff ? (chuckles) I don´t know....hello, it´s nice to be in Asbury Park....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Atlantic City´ (following ´Growin´ Up´)**

´´Thank you, here´s one I haven´t played in a long time....no, no, no, it´s not that one, no (chuckles) it´s a different one I haven´t played in a long time (chuckles) alright (people yell) no, I ain´t gonna be playing that tonight, I, uh, I try, I tried actually to play that at home a few nights ago and I couldn´t figure out what it was about (chuckles) so (chuckles)....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Independence Day´**

´´Thank you, thanks....alright, this is, uh....life´s always, uh, seems like it´s a succession of.... of being born and dying and finding different ways to do things, I think if that, when that stops, you end up, uh....I don´t know, stuck in sort of a no man´s land, I guess, this is a song about a fellow....trying to....learn how to be different, learn how to be new, change the way he´s done things....he gets out of prison, trying to find his way back into the world, back into his family....but, uh, changing can be pretty hard, I think, uh, patricularly when all your old things feel so familiar, they feel like you....even if you´re killing yourself....so everybody´s done a little straight time....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Straight Time´**

´´Thank you, I´d like to bring out some lovely young ladies right now....ladies and gentlemen, are there any red headed women in the house ? (cheers)(Soozie and Patti come onto the stage) am I seeing double ?....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Mansion on the Hill´**

´´Thank you, ma´am´s....thank you, ma´am....that´s Soozie Tyrell, Patti Scialfa.....oh, stay there, stay there, wait ! (chuckles) oh....(?)....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Wild Billy´s Circus Story´**

´´(chuckles) Phantom Dan Federici miraculously appearing in Asbury Park.....I didn´t even know he was in the building, he´s, uh, such, such is his magic (chuckles) sometimes you just turn around and he´s there (chuckles) thank you, Danny....I got to play this one that´s kind of (?) but, uh, I like to move from the topic of circuses onto another fabulous topic, cunnilingus, that´s right (chuckles) I´ve been promoting cunnilingus wherever I can across the United States (cheers) thank you, thank you....I can´t personally demonstrate right now but (chuckles) but I like to think myself as the Dr.Ruth of rock and roll, that´s right (chuckles) and, as you know, cunnilingus, and I hope I´m pronouncing that correctly, that´s a tricky word but if you can pronounce it, you can probably do it, that´s right, try it, everybody, cunnilingus, very good (chuckles) excellent, excellent, they´re probably, uh, practising cunnilingus throughout the great state of New Jersey as we speak.....I hope so, I hope so, I, uh, make it a happy state, a pretty happy state (chuckles) that´ll be, the happiest state in the nation....I think instead of the Garden State, they´re just gonna put ´We practise cunnilingus´ on our license plates (chuckles)....hey !....that´s a good idea, that´s a good idea, that´s a good idea, uh, alright, not much to say about it that I haven´t already said expect like, uh, balancing a plate on the end of your nose, it´s not as easy as it looks (chuckles) oh, and I do mean practising around this state because it takes a, it takes a long while to get it down just right (chuckles) oh, that´s right (?) here we go, aah, ooh (chuckles) oh, any children in the audience, as you know there may be, ´cunnilingus´ is Latin for ´keep your room very neat´ (chuckles)....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Red Headed Woman´ (following ´Wild Billy´s Circus Story´)**

´´Alright....(chuckles) come on out (Patti and Soozie come back onstage)(Bruce murmurs) (chuckles)(?) yeah, I know, I shouldn´t done that (?)(chuckles) watch my back ! (chuckles) (?)(chuckles)(some woman yells: ´You´re sleeping on the couch tonight´) Ooooh !.... (chuckles)....this is for you, baby (chuckles)....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Two Hearts´ (following ´Red Headed Woman´)**

´´Yeah....(chuckles)....(?) tell her (Patti) to get to work on them records (chuckles)....alright ....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´When You´re Alone´**

´´Thanks....I need a, yeah, alright, thank you....yeah....this song I wrote, uh....in the early 80´s, I guess, after, right after the Nebraska record and uh....I always remember....going up to the draft board out of Asbury Park here back in the late 60´s....and uh, I was lucky, I got out but, uh...so this, uh...it´s a song about a Vet coming home from Vietnam....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Shut Out the Light´**

´´Thanks....that´s Kevin Buell....hometown man, lives out there in Wanamassa.....one of those enjoyablest New Jersey names to pronounce....like Hohokus....Wanamassa, we got a whole lot of them.....a fabulous Dave Van, Van Rohn song (one person claps) hey, a Dave Van Rohn fan (chuckles) I opened for Dave Van Rohn at Max´s Kansas City in, uh, in 1970 something, alright, and uh....(?)(chuckles) but uh, he, he had this song, he didn´t have it then but he´s written it since and he sent it to me on a tape, probably with the idea that I´d be the right man to cover it, I´m not gonna do it now ´cause I don´t know it....and uh (chuckles) I´m just gonna hype it (chuckles) but it´s a, it´s a song that just names all, it´s all New Jersey towns, it´s uh, if you had the Jerseyphile, it´s....an occasion to mark, I guess, I don´t know, nobody did it before (chuckles)....(?)....I´ll learn that song one of these days (some woman screams really loud) maybe not (chuckles) but I´ll send you that cd, alright (chuckles).....I was, uh, about six and a half years ago I was, I took a trip through the Southwest with these friends of mine.....and I was staying in this little motel in Western Arizona and, uh.....I was, uh....you get, you get off that interstate and you get on those state and county roads and, you know, you, there´s nothing for 80, 90 miles, there´s just nothing out there and then you´ll hit these little four-corner towns and it´s always the same, there´s a grocery store, there´s a gas-station, there´s a motel and a bar, all the necessities for human life to flourish (chuckles) in the wasteland out there but, uh, so I was staying in one of these little motels and, and it was my favorite kind of, uh, motel where you can lay down the end of your bed and, and look out the door and, and see your car right out there right in front (chuckles) you know, it´s right there (?) you can just about touch it, you know, and I, I always sleep very sound in those (chuckles) motels....but, uh....we were sitting outside at night and, and.....(?) we were playing some cards and, and drinking a little bit, it was about 11.30 at night, it was 80, 80 degrees, low desert in the fall.....and these two Mexican men come in from the west and they took the room next to us, one was a young kid, he was kind of high, the other one was a fellow about my age.....he was a mature kind of fellow (chuckles) but uh, but uh (chuckles) and, uh, he come over and start looking at our motorcycles, we were on motorcycles, and he started talking about, uh, he´d had a younger brother that´d died in a Southern California motorcycle accident.....and he talked about his brother for about an hour and there´s certain things that for some reason always stayed with me, I always kept, kept his voice in the back of my head somewhere, I think maybe ´cause....and we were about to have our own kids and I think.... it´s hard to get past that fear that you feel (?) you know you love someone so much that you just wanna protect it all the time, you know, and the world´s really not set up like that, no matter....no matter what your situation....and that first line of family always feels it´s to take care of the ones that come after you, I think that when that breaks down, I don´t know how people put themselves back together or, or get the world to feel right again, just get it to feel right again.....so, uh.....I was writing a song on the Central California drug trade, Mexican gangs come up and hire migrant workers in the Central Valley....and, uh, to work in these drug labs where you make as much in a night or two as you would in a year of backbreaking work....and it was a song about two brothers who come up from Mexico and I always heard my friend´s voice in my head when I was writing it so I dedicate this to him every night wherever he may be....it´s called ´Sinaloa Cowboys´.....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Sinaloa Cowboys´**

´´(?)....this is a, uh, song set on San Diego....border, it´s uh....a lot of young guys get out of the army in....California end up going to work for the California border patrol and uh....it´s a confusing job....there was a ....a Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes said California was Mexico until about 1848 and uh, that border sort of, it can feel like a scar down there....it´s an issue that got so distorted during the last election and so, so abused, you know, ´10 percent violent criminals are all coming over and they´re gonna vote for Bill Clinton´ (chuckles) you know (chuckles) I like that image, though, like just, you know (chuckles) ´Get over to the voting booth´ (chuckles) gets pretty crazy (chuckles) but uh, but it....as silly as it was, it wasn´t funny, people coming across the border for a long time doing work that nobody else wants to do, making sure that food gets to our table....(?) working for wages that....nobody wants to work for at, at the behest of American businesses....and in return they get some medical care and their kids will have a shot at getting an education that they didn´t have..... but uh, anyway, this is a song about a young border patrolman trying to figure out where that line really is, you know....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´The Line´**

´´Come on out, Sooz....this is, uh, Soozie Tyrell....a lovely, lovely (chuckles) fabulous singer-violinist....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Racing in the Street´**

´´Thank you, Soozie....thank you.....thanks....I was, uh, I grew up in a, in a house where there wasn´t a whole lot of....uh, talk about, you know, or what books you read or films you saw or, or art, everybody was busy keeping their heads above water, I guess, but, uh.....you know, it´s, it´s funny, it´s a shame in a way because those are the things that tie you into the beauty that´s in the world and, and the grace that´s in the world and uh.....and those things are useful, you know, but, I guess, the first thing I really remember was the radio being on all the time, you know, my mother was, when I was in grammar school, she was still a young girl and she liked that rock and roll music, you know (chuckles) and, uh, she had the radio on in the kitchen all the time in the morning when me and my sister´d be down there sucking up our cornflakes and listening, listening to all the hits, you know, and uh.....it was, uh, there was something I always thought I heard like a secret message, you know, I sat there and I had my little tie on and my green jacket.....and I had (?)(chuckles) and I heard all the little records coming out at 7.30, there was always a message, it said ´There´s a party going on.... you´re missing it, little boy´ (chuckles) you know....(?)(chuckles) and uh, so I said ´I gotta go find that, I gotta go find that party´, you know, and uh.....I guess I did to some degree but I found a lot of things with it too I wasn´t counting on (chuckles) but uh....uh....but it was the sound of all that happiness and joy and, and, and pain and the idea that there was a life to be lived outside of, you know, outside of what I knew, outside of what I´d experienced, there was things to be risked, you know, there was a.....and it sort of set me on my way for a long time and I found endless inspiration and, and stuff that people thought was junk, all those little 49 cent records, you know, and uh....(?) I was 26 and a friend of mine showed me John Ford´s Grapes of Wrath and I remember sitting there at the end of the film and I felt like I felt when I heard all those, those great records, you know, that, that.....that, uh, it, they were all things that helped you reckon with the world, reckon with the world as you were gonna have to do, everybody has to in some fashion, I remember sitting at the end of the film thinking ´Yeah, that´s what I wanna do, I want my work to be about something and to find its way into people´s lives and, and (?) and to address the things, the world around them and their family and their friends and the people they loved and, and that´s how I´ll find my use, you know, that´s how I´ll find my use´....and there´s, there´s fundamental questions in that film and in, in those records also, really in a funny way that´s what those records were asking about the way that we live and the choices we make every day, about the idea of is there such a thing as.....you know, is there such a thing as individual salvation or in the end is everybody´s fate connected in some place.....and, and though the world is such that, you know, evil men get rewarded and good men fall, that there´s some place inside of you where, where those things get measured and that at the end of the day that that matters, you know .....I don´t know if I´m (coughs) explaining this correctly but it was just the idea of....that sort of Tom Joad speaks at the end of the film, you know, is there such a thing as, as an individual soul or, or, is really, is there sort of one big soul....and.....there was a scene at the end of the picture that sort of captured that, captured that so clearly, he´s killed a security guard, Tom Joad´s killed a security guard that´s killed a friend of his.....and he´s gonna have to leave his family and leave his, his mother....after she lost so much already and they´ve come so far and they have nothing.....and, uh, she´s gonna lose her son now, there´s nothing that can be done about it....but, uh, before that scene there´s a dance.....and, uh, it´s a, it´s a small scene that´s shot very....very lovely, the way people are holding one another on the dancefloor and people´s faces.....and I always thought that was Ford holding out the possibility of beauty....in a harsh world, (?) showing the usefulness of beauty, uh....anyway, after that Tom slips into his mother´s cabin and....wakes her gently and says ´I gotta go now´ ....and they step out underneath these dark trees and she says ´Well, I knew this day would come but how am I gonna know if you´re well, how am I gonna know....if you´re alive, am I ever gonna see you again ?´....and he says ´Well, I don´t know, all I know is....I gotta go out and see what´s wrong and see if there´s anything I can do about it....to make it right and you´ll know I´m there.....´cause you´ll feel me....at night in the darkness that´s all around you when you´re sleeping, you´ll see me.....and you´ll see me, uh, you´ll hear me in men´s voices when they´re yelling ´cause they´re angry or in the way, you´ll hear me in the way kids are laughing when they´re coming in and there´s food on the table and.....and, uh....and that they´re, they´ve got a home and they´ll be alright....that´s, you´ll see me, Mama, that´s where I´ll be´....there was, uh, something in that film that was heroic.....you know, and, uh.....that always stayed with me....´cause in the end.....after the world reveals itself and deals its harshest blows to you, as it does to every one of us at some point or another....people fall back on love and faith and hope and ultimately on each other....because that´s all there is....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Across the Border´**

´´Oh yeah....alright....I wanna say we´re here tonight for the Boys´ and the Girls´ Club of Monmouth County....an organization working here in Asbury and in Neptune helping kids get a start on life....you know....I wanna do this for them....glad to be back in Asbury Park, I´m glad to be here tonight (?) to, uh, give them some support so you can check out what they´re about, I´m sure they can use your help....alright....here´s for (?) and the staff and all the volunteers for the Boys´ and the Girls´ Club out there.....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´This Hard Land´**

´´Danny, come back (chuckles).....Soozie !....uh, I´m about to go where, uh, I have not gone before in a long time (people yell) no, I´m not, not going there (chuckles).....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Rosalita´**

´´Thank you, thank you....oh, thanks, this was a blast tonight, I had a lot of fun (chuckles) ....really a lot of fun, it´s, uh....it´s so nice that this lovely theater is here, it´s great to have a place to play here in town in Asbury...it´s funny, when, uh....I guess I was about 18 and I first started to come out to, to Asbury Park in 1968 and uh....it was funny, you know, Asbury was always a little more open than most of the towns that, that sort of surrounded it, you know, I think for me and my friends, The E Street Band and, and many of the musicians that....many musicians who sort of, who gathered here, you know, it was kind of our little, our little taste of the city, you know, was a place where you could kind of come out and find yourself and, and play the music that you wanted to play in a club or two at least, you know, uh, even make a few bucks, you know, I think I met Davey Sancious, Clarence, Vini Lopez, Garry Tallent, Southside, Danny, I met all of ´em right here in this town, you know, and.... there was a tremendous gathering of musicians here at that time and uh....I think I wrote, wrote my first record there on Cookman and Main Street, on top of a beauty salon that used to be there (chuckles) uh....and, you know, we put our band together and uh....that took us around the world and, and I really found friendships here that lasted me my whole life, you know, it´s pretty amazing really....met my wife here in a bar (chuckles) and I got a chance to see my kids running around the theater tonight so that sort of brings it all ´round a full circle ....but uh....I guess all I´m saying is I´m glad to be able to come, come, come back to town and to be able to play here in this theater, it´s a, a treat for, a treat for me....and I´ll do this song I guess tonight, it´s sort of a funny song, I guess this song was written kind of as a goodbye song.....you know, many years ago and uh....I guess I was about to leave and I didn´t know what, where I was going exactly or what to expect....what was up ahead of me but uh....so it´s kind of a farewell song but it was kind of a love note too...it really was....so, uh.... Danny, come on out, help me out, man (chuckles)....second verse, alright ? (chuckles) .....´´
 * 24.11.96 Asbury Park, NJ, intro to ´Sandy´**

//Compiled by : Johanna Pirttijärvi//